Leading effectively during a crisis is one of the toughest tests for a CEO and a communications leader. My friend and mentor Gary Sheffer, longtime Chief Communications Officer at GE, used to say that, “Crisis is when we communicators earn our keep.”

Gary is right. Communicators work extremely hard and get lots of attention during a crisis. Sometimes accolades follow.

But communicators really earn their keep (and fewer accolades) when they prevent crisis situations. That’s why I’m a big...